22. Dead Shall Rise
Dead Shall Rise
EGYPTIAN SEED LIFE.—Lord Lindsay’s party, while wandering among the Egyptian Pyramids, found a mummy, which from the hieroglyphical inscriptions, etc., found in the sarcophagus containing the body, was supposed to be 3,000 years old. After unwrapping the mummy, a small root was found in one of its hands. Desiring to know how long vegetable seed-life, could exist, the bulb was taken from that hand, closed for 3,000 years, and planted in a sunny soil. In time it sprouted, blooming into a beautiful flower.
BOLD COUNTESS.—A dying German Countess gave orders that her grave should be covered with a solid slab of granite, that around it be placed square blocks of stone, and that the whole be fastened together by strong iron clasps. On the stone, by her command, were engraved these words: “This burial place, purchased to all Eternity, must never be opened.” Thus she defied God, but a little beech-seed, carried perhaps by the wind, found its way into the foundation, where it sprouted; in time it grew into a tree and forced the massive stones from their foundation and broke the clasps.
PAPER FROM RAGS.—Paper, that article so useful in human life, takes its origin from cast-off rags. The rag dealer buys the cast-off rags. These he takes to the mill, and there they are sorted, washed, mashed and shaped, in short, formed into a fabric beautiful enough to bear upon its surface the messages of love, the certificate of marriage or the signature of kings. This reminds us of the resurrection of the body. When deserted by the soul how much better is it than a worn and wasted rag? It is buried in the earth, and there reduced to dust and ashes. If man’s art and device can produce so pure and white a fabric as paper from filthy rags, what should hinder God by His mighty power, from raising this body from the grave, and fashioning it like unto the body of Christ.
HAVEN’S DYING TESTIMONY.—When Gilbert Haven lay dying, he raised his right arm, already black with mortification, and said: “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” An army surgeon asserted that after the battle of Bull Run he amputated limbs, throwing them out of the window until the pile reached up to the windowsill. They were likely buried in one common mass, yet the resurrection power of God can find, separate, and reconstruct them all.
MONICA’S ASSURANCE OF RESURRECTION.—Monica, in her closing moments, said concerning her body being buried far from her native home, “Nothing is far from God. He will know where to find me on the resurrection morning.”
GOLD DUST AND STEEL FILINGS.— Gold may be melted with other substances so as not to be recognizable to the naked eye, yet the science of chemistry will separate and bring back that identical gold pure and free as it was before. Steel filings may be mixed with sand, sawdust or any other foreign substance, yet, if the magnet is held over the mixture the steel filings will at once become separated from the sand and sawdust, and attach itself to the magnet.
CHIEF’S DREAD.—Mr. Moffat, the missionary, was once telling an African chief about the resurrection, when the savage replied: “I do not wish to hear about the dead rising. The dead cannot rise! The dead must not rise!” Then raising his right arm, and shaking his hand as if quivering a spear, he said: “I have slain my thousands, and shall they rise?”